News & Alerts for Landlords
Landlords be aware of an ongoing fraud that has been circulating in the area. There are many variations but typically the fraudulant tenant offers to pay the landlord a sum of money on a cheque drawn on a foreign bank. The cheque arrives for more than the agreed upon amount and the landlord is asked to refund the difference. The initial cheque bounces and the landlord loses the money that they have paid as a 'refund.'
Reminders:
- Landlords should NEVER send money without first being sure cheques sent to you have cleared.
- If you suspect an offer is not legitimate, trust your instincts and contact authorities
- Don't reply to suspicious emails, by doing so you verify that your email address is valid
- Please remember that we do have legitimate international students who may be contacting you from outside of Canada seeking accommodations
For further information contact www.phonebusters.ca - A joint RCMP/OPP anti fruad call centre. They provide a list of various scams as well as information on how to report them.
www.recol.ca - Reporting Crime Online. Another site affiliated with the RCMP, the OPP and the Internet Fraud Complaint Centre.
Additional Information
For
more information about these types of fraud including "The Nigerian/419
Scam" and other types of Advance Fee Fraud, please visit the following
links:
Phonebusters.com
A site operated by the RCMP and the Ontario Provincial Police with
information on phone and internet-based fraud, including methods of
reporting scams.
RECOL.ca
"an
initiative that involves an integrated partnership between
International, Federal and Provincial Law Enforcement agencies, as well
as, with regulators and private commercial organizations that have a
legitimate investigative interest in receiving a copy of complaints of
economic crime."
